Memory Lane
by SuperChick2nd
Summary: Annabeth receives a set of books from Aphrodite to help Percy regain his memory. They are at camp, and Annabeth and some friends read the PJO books. Post TLH  On Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

Memory Lane

Disclamer: I do not own PJO, I am simply using the idea,

Annabeth POV

I stared at the ground, wanting to cry, but the tears wouldn't flow. My boyfriend doesn't remember me; He doesn't remember anything about me, about us. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around, startled. Aphrodite was there, looking at me sadly. "Annabeth, I am truly sorry about what Hera did to Percy, but it was necessary to unite the two camps. However, since you are one my favorite couples, I have decided to give you a gift." She waved her hand, and a box appeared at my feet.

"Now, go and find Percy, I think he is in his cabin, and read these books with him. Wait for him to open it. If you want, you can invite some of your friends, but only a few, because there are a few embarrassing details. I heard that the hunters just arrived. Irritating girls, that lot. I have to go now, but I'll be keeping tags on you." With that, Aphrodite disappeared into a cloud of pink perfume, leaving me staring at the box next to me.

I picked it up, and ran towards the dining pavilion. I would ask Thalia, Rachel and Piper, and tell them to meet me at Percy's cabin. Now all I had to do is convince Percy to join us.

Percy POV

I was sitting at my table, picking at my food, when I felt someone knock on my head, startling me out of my reverie. "Hello? Seaweed brain? Can you hear me?" I stared at her, irritated that she had interrupted my thoughts. "What is it Annabeth? Why are you bothering me again? I already told you, I don't remember anything." I snapped. She looked sad, and I immediately felt ashamed. "I wasn't going to ask you that," she said softly," I was just wondering if I could come to your cabin after dinner with some friends."

"Oh. Well, I guess so. Who are you bringing?"

"Just Thalia, Rachel and Piper."

"Ok. See you then."

I was sitting on my bed in the Poseidon cabin when I heard someone knocking on the door. "Open up, Seaweed brain!" I heard Annabeth yell. "I don't have all night, you know." I sighed, got up, and opened the door. I saw Annabeth, a tall girl with punk clothing, a death to Barbie t-shirt, and a silver circlet in her hair, a shorter girl with frizzy red hair and a million bright orange freckles, and finally, a very tan girl with her hair done in a ton of tiny braids.

"Percy, these are Thalia Grace," Annabeth gestured to the girl with the silver circlet in her hair, "Rachel Elizabeth Dare," She gestured to the girl with frizzy red hair, "and Piper McLean." She said gesturing to the final girl. I shook their hands, feeling like I should know them, but I couldn't remember any of them. "Anyhow," Rachel Elizabeth Dare shifted uncomfortably, and I realized that I had been staring at her. "Annabeth, didn't you have something important to tell us?"

"Yes. Aphrodite visited me, and gave me this box, telling me not to open it until I was with you. Would you like to do the honors?" She said, handing me the box. I took a deep breath, and opened the box. Inside, there were five books, labeled Percy_ Jackson and the Olympians _written in ancient Greek. I pulled out the one labeled _Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief_ _Book One. _On the cover, there was a kid holding a sword that looked suspiciously like riptide, a bay or something. In front of him, there was a skyline of Manhattan. I opened it, Curious, and I read these words:

**1 I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right**

**now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal**

**life.**

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful,**

**nasty ways.**

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you**

**for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop**

**reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time**

**before **_**they **_**sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

(AN)

Hey, thanks for reading. This is my first story . Please review, because it will inspire me to update sooner.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclamer: I don't own PJO

Percy POV

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a **_**few **_**months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a**

**private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

**Yeah. You could say that.**

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going**

**bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mentalcase**

**kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to**

**look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

**I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

"Who is Mr. Brunner?" Piper asked."Chiron. I think." Annabeth replied.

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a**

**scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think**

**he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this**

**awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't**

**put me to sleep.**

"Yep. It's Chiron. And Percy, It is Greek armor, not Roman." Anabeth said. Percy shrugged," I didn't write these books. It's not my fault."

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

**Boy, was I wrong.**

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to**

**the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for**

**the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Rachel whistled, "You shot a cannon at the school bus? You're crazier than I thought."

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school,**

**when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong**

**lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you**

**get the idea.**

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

Annabeth chortled."Tough luck Percy."

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac**

**girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and ketchup sandwich.**

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've**

**been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a**

**wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE**

**for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny,**

**like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was**

**enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Percy! How dare you talk about me like that!" I jumped, not realizing that Grover was standing behind me. "Grover? Why are you here?" I asked. "You left the door open, and I heard you reading something, so I decided to see what you were doing." I glared at Annabeth who blushed. "Sorry Percy. I'll shut it right now. Do you think you can continue reading?" I cleared my throught, and contiued.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair,**

**and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The**

**headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing,**

**or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Sounds boring." Thalia remarked. "It was," Grover replied.

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything**

**happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school**

**suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble**

**statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and**

**started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele, **_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the**

**carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting,**

**but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other**

**teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket,**

**even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your**

**locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a**

**nervous breakdown.**

"Nervous breakdown, my ass. Knowing what she is, she probably shredded him." Annabeth said.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She**

**would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going**

**to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told**

**Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're**

**absolutely right."**

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned**

**around and said, "Will you **_**shut up**_**?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this**

**picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's**

**Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he **_**did **_**this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"God? You have to be kidding me Percy. I knew you were an idiot, I just didn't know that you were that stupid." Annabeth said, while trying not to giggle. **"**

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um,**

**Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And**

**later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the**

**gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life.**

**Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question,**

**does this matter in real life?"**

"Uh Oh," Thalia said," You're busted."

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying**

**anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed**

**feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children,**

**who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in**

**the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and**

**scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time**

**for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and**

**acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a**

**thousand years old and had seen everything.**

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will**

**accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman**

**armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board**

**and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever **_**lived, **_**and their mother, and what god**

**they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact**

**that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life.**

**No—he didn't expect me to be **_**as good; **_**he expected me to be **_**better. **_**And I just couldn't learn all**

**those names and facts, much less spell them correctly**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the**

**stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"That's because he probably was."

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along**

**Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I**

**figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York**

**state had been weird since Christmas.**

"I remember that. I was visiting some friends for an art show then."Rachel mused.

**We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from**

**lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables**

**crackers.**

Grover had started ranting about nature, and how no one respected it, but Annabeth covered his mouth before he could get much farther.

**Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course,**

**Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if**

**we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that **_**school—the school for loser freaks who**

**couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a**

**genius."**

"We all know that now," Thalia said, while struggling to hold back her laughter. Piper started laughing at her comment, and we all joined in.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some**

**deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"Grover!" Annabeth said with mock dissaprovel,"Why did you dissapoint Percy like that?" Grover just blushed and bent his head, trying not to laugh.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's**

**apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I**

**wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home.**

"Perceus Jackson! You were acutally thinking of ditching? Shame on you!" Thalia joked, senfing everyone into another fit of laughter."I don't blame you," Annabeth said."You must have missed her."

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd bedisappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even ifthis was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn'tbe able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while**

**he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like**

**a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her**

**ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten**

**lunch in Grover's lap.**

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody**

**had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"Liquid Cheetos? Where do you come up with these things?" Piper asked."I don't know, and I didn't write this, so stop asking me!" I said.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get**

**control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the**

**fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

"Good for you, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth gave me a hi-five. "That probably wasan't so smart, you know, to do that in front of a monster, but you didn't know, so we can't blame you."

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt**

**at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her**

**eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. **_**I **_**pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared**

**Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—**_**will**_**—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "**_**Now**_**."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't**

**there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently**

**at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I**

**know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the**

**blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain**

**misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes**

**between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr.**

**Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the**

**end of the entrance ****hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the**

**Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She**

**was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher,**

**especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to**

**pulverize it...**

"Oh Styx. Percy, you are in so much trouble." Piper said.

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with**

**it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Oh, yeah? She is a monster Percy. You have to kill her." Annabeth was almost yelling at me."With what, Annabeth? I didn't have a sword, I didn't have a knife, I didn't even have a shield. Please tell me how I am supposed to kill her with no weapons." I retorted**.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we**

**found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been**

**selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer **_**from the**

**Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or**

**worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"I agree Percy. _Tom Sawyer_ is torture." Rachel said. "It's so dull."

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers**

**stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She**

**was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was**

**about to slice me to ribbons.**

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into**

**the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen**

**out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's**

**bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the**

**sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of**

**water. **_**Hisss!**_

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on**

**the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air,**

**as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms**

**or something. **

"Magic mushrooms. Are you kidding?" Annabeth said.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside. **

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was**

**still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When**

**she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our **_**teacher. **_**Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"It's official Grover. You suck at lying." I said. Grover blushed.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing**

**utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on**

**this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling**

**all right?"**

I shut the book. "Why did you stop? It was just getting good." Piper whined. "Because," I replied, "It is one in the morning. We can continue tomorrow morning. I'll meet you here at ten, ok?" The others nodded and left. "Good night Percy." Annabeth whispered, giving me a kiss on the cheek, "Sweet dreams, Seaweed Brain." She then turned around and walked out the door, shutting it softly behind her, leaving me staring at the spot where she was standing.

(AN)

Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews. Special thanks to vikky-leigh, my wonderful beta, booklover484,the stole sisters, and kronos army for their inspiring reviews. I will try to update at least once a week, but I might not be able to, because of school.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, but I want to!

Annabeth POV

I awoke with a start. Malcolm was shaking me." Annabeth, it's almost breakfast time. I let you sleep a little later than usual, but I just heard the conch horn. Do you want me to lead the cabin today?" Malcolm said. I yawned, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes." It's fine, Malcolm. Just had a late night, that all. I think I came in around one. ""What were you doing?" Malcolm narrowed his eyes. "Were you with Percy?" I blushed. "Shut up, Malcolm. Do you think you could take the cabin to breakfast? I'll only be a few minutes."

As soon as I finished breakfast, Travis and Conner Stole sidled up to me. "I hear you are reading some books about Percy, and we were wondering if we could join in. We'll bring coke and chips." I groaned. Who could refuse that? I sure as heck couldn't. "Fine. But you have to bring a huge bag of chips, and a 12 pack of coke. Deal?" They nodded. "Sure thing Annabeth. Hey, where are you reading, and what time are you reading it?"

"In five minutes. We are reading in the Poseidon cabin." The Stole brothers turned around, and headed off. "Don't tell anyone!" I called after them, but I don't think they heard me.

I jogged over to the Poseidon cabin, knowing that I was late. I opened the door, expecting them to be reading, but they were playing Uno. More like Rachel, Grover, and Thalia were. Percy was writing something, and the Stole brothers were reading the chapter that they missed. "Hey, Percy, whatcha doing?" He jumped, hitting his head on the ceiling. "Oh, hi Annabeth. I was doing homework. Yeah, that's it. Homework." I raised my eyebrows. He cleared his throat. "Why don't we read now? I think Connor and Travis are finished reading."

I shrugged, "Sounds fine to me. Let's go, Seaweed Brain." Percy climbed down from his bed. I found myself staring at his abs. They were just so nice…. "Wise Girl? Why are you staring at me?" I blushed. "It's nothing. Let's just read now. Ok?" Percy shrugged. "Ok. Get comfortable everyone! Who wants to read?" Rachel raised her hand. "I'll read. Connor, give me the book." Connor sighed, but handed her the book. "Ok, where were we? Ah, I found it."

**2 THREE OLD LADIES KNIT**

**THE SOCKS OF DEATH**

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twentyfour/**

**seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire**

**campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were**

**completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in**

**my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher**

**since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip**

**them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"You are psycho. Everyone here knows that." Travis chortled. I slapped him at the same time as Percy. "If you say that one more time, I will not hesitate to kick your ass to next Sunday."I threatened. Travis put his hands out protectively. "Hey, I was just joking."

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate,**

**then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"You suck at lying Grover." I stated.

"I thought we already established that in the last chapter." Grover whined.

"Be quiet Goat-boy." Percy said, with a slightly condescending pat on the head.

**Something was going on. Something **_**had **_**happened at the museum.**

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds**

**with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew**

**out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the**

**Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events**

**we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in**

**sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"Wow, Dad must have been pissed off." Thalia remarked.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got**

**into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost**

**every class.**

"Even Travis and I aren't that bad! We get sent out of the room only once or twice during the day." Connor said, sounding mildly impressed.

"Can everyone just shut up? I'm trying to read here" Rachel complained.

"Sorry Rachel." Everyone chorused.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too**

**lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it**

**meant, but it sounded good.**

"You basically called him a old drunkard. I wish I could have seen his face!" I started laughing. "Shut up, Annabeth!" Percy said, blushing.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be**

**invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to**

**go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The **_**view **_**of the woods out my dorm window,**

**the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good**

**friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do**

**well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr.**

**Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd**

**started to believe him.**

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the **_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology**_

**across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters**

**doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember**

**the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those**

**Latin verbs? Forget it.**

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will accept only**_

_**the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me**

**some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I**

**didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr.**

**Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner**

**asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said **_**"... **_**worried about Percy, sir."**

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend**

**talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the **_**school**_**! Now that**

**we know for sure, and **_**they **_**know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy**

**to mature more."**

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— **_**"**_

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still**

**can."**

**"Sir, he **_**saw **_**her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough**

**to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You**

**know what that would mean."**

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she**

**was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something**

**much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like**

**an archer's bow.**

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow **_**clop-clop-clop, **_**like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like**

**an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then**

**moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't**

**been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole**

**thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back.**

**They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the**

**Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but**

**that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly,**

**the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little**

**kissing motions with her lips.**

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say.**

**"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

**My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After**

**saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"Man, that's gotta suck. And he did it in front of the whole class!" Thalia said.

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal,**

**Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was**

**going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They**

**were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were **_**rich **_**juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were**

**executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling**

**magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have**

**to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together**

**again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other**

**passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as**

**if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting**

**teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much **_**did **_**you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about**

**demon math teachers ..."**

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there**

**was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you**

**need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out**

**something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800) 009-0009**_

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as**

**rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have**

**to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that**

**he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who**

**defended **_**me.**_

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and**

**the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound**

**over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that**

**we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there.**

**On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other**

**side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit**

**stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts**

**and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice**_**. **_**There were no customers, just three old**

**ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd**

**ever seen.**

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the**

**right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an**

**enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied**

**back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

"Oh crap! Are those ladies who I think they are? If you are, you're in trouble." I said.

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from**

**his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like**

**shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I**

**swear I could hear that **_**snip **_**across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue**

**socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine**

**compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit**

**stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are**

**they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were**

**something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you ****saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself,**

**but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this**

**to be like the last time****."**

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on**

**my coffin.**

"So," I said, "should we continue? I have some more free time." Percy shrugged."Sure. Sounds good to me."

**AN**

**Yes, I know I said I was gonna update twice a week, but that just isn't realistic. I promise to update at least twice a month. Thank you for reviewing and subscribing!**


	4. Author's note, Sorry

AN! Uber Important!

Ok, so I really apologize for not updating any of my stories recently. I broke my arm, celebrated several birthdays, and went to the US, so, I have not had any time for writing. Yes, these are crappy excuses, but I have decided to put all of my Percy Jackson stories on Hiatus for the time. I have lost my inspiration for it. I will, however, try to update The DADA Paradox. I have a chapter about half-done at the present. I hope to have it done by next week. I am also going into High School math soon, so I have a bunch of exams, so, looooooots of studying! Also I have several siblings, so I have to babysit and cook quite a lot. I really apologize for this, and hope you are not to mad at me.


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